--- title: Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever description: Speaker John Boehner reasserted his conservative bona fides in a press conference Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-08T17:19:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:24:40.842Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever og:description: Speaker John Boehner reasserted his conservative bona fides in a press conference Thursday. og:url: https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04987259ccfbf91/69876e5ce20a879d28a83f60/john-boehner-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2098 og:image:height: 1180 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-BOEHNER og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever twitter:description: Speaker John Boehner reasserted his conservative bona fides in a press conference Thursday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04987259ccfbf91/69876e5ce20a879d28a83f60/john-boehner-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jan 8, 2015 5:19 PM UTC  Speaker of the House John Boehner attends a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 11, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Speaker of the House John Boehner attends a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 11, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jan 8, 2015 5:19 PM UTC A few days after enduring an embarrassing number of defections in his reelection race for House Speaker, Ohio Rep. John Boehner told reporters Thursday that he is “the most anti-establishment speaker we’ve ever had.” The 25 Republican defections were the most against a sitting Speaker since 1923, according to [National Journal](http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/boehner-beats-back-foes-keeps-speaker-s-gavel-20150106), although the opposition was unorganized and not considered anything more than a symbolic protest by mostly conservatives. Boehner said that the American people are “very frustrated” and that “they need to take it out on somebody” before touting his conservative voting record. “It does pain me to be described as spineless or a squish,” said Boehner, hitting a sarcastic note before turning more serious. “And I tell you what pains me the most is when they describe me as the establishment.” “Now, I’m the most anti-establishment speaker we’ve ever had,” said Boehner, who was first elected in 1990\. “Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Who’s the guy who believes in regular order? Me. Who believes in allowing more members to participate in a process from both sides of the aisle. Me. I’m pretty comfortable in my own skin and I’m going to do my best to show all of our members—Democrats and Republicans and members who voted against me that I’m up to the job that I was given.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/"},"headline":"Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever","datePublished":"2015-01-08T17:19:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:24:40.842Z","description":"\"What pains me the most is when they describe me as the establishment.\"","url":"https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/","keywords":["Congress","John Boehner"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04987259ccfbf91/69876e5ce20a879d28a83f60/john-boehner-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta04987259ccfbf91/69876e5ce20a879d28a83f60/john-boehner-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-BOEHNER","caption":"US-POLITICS-BOEHNER","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3659804/boehner-anti-establishment/","name":"Boehner: I'm the Most Anti-Establishment Speaker Ever"}}]}] ```